


Where We Bury Blades

by bikingpaladin



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Canon, Angst, Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Fate & Destiny, Weapons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:21:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23379763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bikingpaladin/pseuds/bikingpaladin
Summary: It is a destiny universally acknowledged in Remnant that if you name a blade after a person, it will sheath itself in their blood.
Relationships: Weiss Schnee/Yang Xiao Long
Kudos: 17





	Where We Bury Blades

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Anonymous Commenter](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Anonymous+Commenter).



> A kind anon requested Freezerburn angst fic and I'd like to gift this to them.
> 
> Spoilers for Volume 5 Episode 6, Known By Its Song, as this fic is a bit of an alternative take. While canon typical violence is present, it is not graphic.
> 
> The angst Yang feels about being neglected by her mother will never, ever match the level of angst Yang feels when watching her teammates suffer.

As a child wandering the woods of Patch, Yang found a set of bones with the name “Raven Branwen” carved into each and every single one. A raven bid her to take one home and fashion it into a knife.

She agreed.

That knife stayed with her, throughout her life - never used. It was tucked away in a hidden compartment of her left boot, in case. In case of what, Yang couldn’t decide. She didn’t intend to kill or stab her mother - she just wanted to meet with her. So to Yang, the knife was just dormant there, waiting for its strange destiny - perhaps only ever to bring her luck in finding Raven Branwen.

Destiny. Did Yang believe in destiny?

She couldn’t decide that either - not since Beacon fell and life stopped making sense.

This knife was given no name, despite a name upon its blade. If a weapon was an extension of a soul, then this one was the part of Yang’s soul that she wanted to believe didn’t exist at all. Most days it was given no thought. The days that Yang forgot about it entirely were always the better ones. Those days she didn’t worry that the knife would one day be used for something that she didn’t intend to happen.

Why carry a knife made from bones of an unknown animal at all if there was a risk it would bring a violent fate? Because it reminded Yang of a fairy tale - one her dad had told her and Ruby when they were very young. It was known as the story of the named blade and this tale had led to the widespread superstition that if a blade was named after a person, it would always find them - though usually not through peaceful means - in most versions, it was suggested that the blade was doomed to kill them or at the very least bathe in their blood.

Yang wanted to believe that despite the siren call of destiny, she still had a choice in the matter.

The blade’s day came when Yang traveled to Mistral. There, she found the Branwen bandit tribe, over which her mother had assumed power. It was there that Yang discovered Weiss had been kidnapped, there that Yang and Weiss forced Raven’s hand in revealing her magic, and it was there that the blade thirsted for its scabbard.

Yang ordered, “Let. Weiss. Go.”

 _How dare she?_ Yang shook with rage. Her hair was ablaze and threatened to burn Raven if Yang had been standing any closer.

“Why would I let her go? You have no leverage.” Raven said.

Weiss was unconscious. Raven had Weiss lifted by the hair and Omen’s blade to Weiss’s neck. The discussion behind Raven’s tent had gotten...unnecessarily hostile. In Yang’s defense, Raven was easily baited, though Yang suspected that Raven thought the same about Yang herself.

Yang slowly lifted the knife out of her boot. She turned the flat of the blade towards Raven so that she could read it. Yang spotted a flash of recognition on Raven’s face, which didn’t make any sense, but it was gone quickly thereafter, and Yang forgot about it. The blade had introduced itself to its target. In Yang’s mind, it was up to Raven to determine if it would make its way home.

There was a painful moment of stillness. Even all of nature seemed silent.

Raven looked into red eyes not very different from her own. Yang could feel the weight of her mother’s gaze determining whether or not Yang was bluffing.

She wasn’t.

And Raven could tell that - Raven dropped Weiss on the floor and opened a Kindred Link portal with a flashy flick of Omen’s blade. Yang rushed to Weiss’s side and cradled her head in her arms.

Raven told her, “Go ahead. Go back to Qrow and join Ozpin’s impossible war against Salem, and meet the same fate as so many others. But if you’re smart, you’ll stay here with me. I’ll answer all your questions and more. We’d have a fresh start.”

“All I care about is my family. And that doesn’t include you.” Yang replied.

Yang gently carried Weiss through the portal on Bumblebee. Yang saw to it that Weiss was put in a bed to continue resting and tenderly draped a blanket over Weiss before Yang went out to the woods alone.

Hours later, Yang was by Weiss’s bedside when Weiss awoke.

Weiss rubbed her bruised head. “Yang? What happened?”

“My mom didn’t appreciate that I called her a bitch to her face. She thought if she threatened me through you, I’d do what she said.” Yang explained.

Weiss asked, “What did you do?”

Yang elected to leave out the part about the knife. No one needed to know about that old thing, which she had broken and buried outside in the forest.

She didn’t need it to find her mom again because she didn’t need her anymore.

Yang could now say she believed that all people have the choice to change their destiny.

“She let you go after a standoff and I got us to my Uncle Qrow. Ruby, Jaune, Nora, and Ren are all here too, if you want to go see them now.” Yang answered.

Weiss said, “No thanks. My head still hurts.”

She needed time to rest then - no problem. Yang got up to leave but Weiss suddenly hugged Yang. Surprised, it took Yang a moment before she reacted by gently holding Weiss closer to her.

“Thank you, Yang. For everything.”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

**Author's Note:**

> If the word “Destiny” comes up in the context of RWBY, then it should always cave in my chest with feels.
> 
> The last line is left ambiguous as to who says it because it better emphasizes that both feel it.
> 
> Prompted by Deep Water Writing Prompts #1749: https://deepwaterwritingprompts.tumblr.com/post/187218384562/text-as-a-child-wandering-the-woods-i-found-a
> 
> Partially inspired by an item in the Septimus Heap Book Series: the Silver Bullets are a magical item that if carved with initials, it will always hit its target.


End file.
